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Author Jen Lancaster on bucket lists, conservatism and (not) writing about sex

Author Jen Lancaster on bucket lists, conservatism and (not) writing about sex

Released Wednesday, 15th October 2014
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Author Jen Lancaster on bucket lists, conservatism and (not) writing about sex

Author Jen Lancaster on bucket lists, conservatism and (not) writing about sex

Author Jen Lancaster on bucket lists, conservatism and (not) writing about sex

Author Jen Lancaster on bucket lists, conservatism and (not) writing about sex

Wednesday, 15th October 2014
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Jen Lancaster has built a career on reinventing herself. In “Such a Pretty Fat,” she tackled weight loss. In “My Fair Lazy,” she sought high culture. In “The Tao of Martha,” she lived a life informed by Martha Stewart.In recent years, Lancaster has also reinvented herself as a novelist, most recently with the sibling rivalry of “Twisted Sisters” and time-traveling delirium of “Here I Go Again.”A Lake Forest transplant, Lancaster is also our guest editor for the Lake Forester this week, championing Habitat for Humanity as her charity.Below is an excerpt of our wide-ranging conversation, which included musings on regret, “Twilight,” her bucket list and why she’ll never write a sex scene.You can listen to the entire interview on our podcast “The Big Questions,” available on iTunes, SoundCloud and YouTube.Q: Two years ago, while writing “The Tao of Martha” you overcame your fear of Halloween, right?Lancaster: I had been terrified of Halloween my entire adult life. Loved it as a kid, but the minute I got out of college, there were little kids at my door demanding candy; which, No. 1, I couldn’t afford, and, No. 2, if I had candy, it would be mine. So, I started to avoid Halloween.So, part of the whole Martha Stewart thing is: Halloween is kind of her Super Bowl. So we had to recognize Halloween. I went all out. I did costumes. I decorated the house. I put glitter on pumpkins, which was the greatest thing to ever happen to me in my entire life.Q: Am I remembering this right? You called glitter the STD of the crafting world?Lancaster: It is the STD of the crafting world because it never, ever goes away. If you look at the floor still, there’s glitter here from two years ago.So I went all out and I bought — and this still makes me angry — I bought 200 full size candy bars, because I wanted to be the house that kids came to and remembered 30 years later saying, “Oh my God, that one place, gave us full size Snickers bars!” So I got all ready. I had everything set. I faced my fear of Halloween and my husband and I sat in the dining room and drank wine on Halloween night waiting for kids who never showed up. We didn’t get one trick-or-treater. Not one.Q: So how is this Halloween going to be different?Lancaster: Halloween, I’m not really going to do this year. I’m on deadline for another book. It’s called, “I Regret Nothing.”
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